


Sensitivity

by spacefucker



Series: 30 Day Challenge (Marvel) [4]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, bucky is oblivious and doing his best, gratuitous gpoy, tony stark is sensitive and easily overwhelmed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-23
Updated: 2016-09-23
Packaged: 2018-08-16 22:18:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8119645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacefucker/pseuds/spacefucker
Summary: Bucky notices how sensitive Tony is to the team's emotions. And then he realizes that no one seems to show Tony the appreciation he deserves. Bucky sets out to fix that.





	

Bucky knew Tony’s whole loud personality thing was an act from the first time he met him.

Tony was sensitive. His mood was easily influenced by the people around him. Any tension, anger, lust, you name it and Tony felt it intensely. Because of this, he often sequestered himself at the first sign of any strong emotion. His workshop was his sanctuary. Often, the team was locked out just so Tony could have some breathing space. That did not mean that Tony was a bad team member, however. On the contrary, Tony was a team-player. His focus frequently was on projects meant for different members of the team.

It came as a surprise that no one seemed to appreciate Tony’s gifts, let alone appreciate Tony himself. He’d even seen Steve take the new armor Tony had made him without anything more than a thank you. The team was taking advantage of Tony. Not on purpose, Bucky didn’t think, but it was still happening.

So Bucky made it his goal to be as thankful and appreciative as possible.

-

“Hey, James! Follow me, I got something to show you!”

Tony had met him on the helicopter pad looking ruffled, tired, but ecstatic. His hair was wild, even more so due to the helicopter blades, and his eyes were a bit manic. Bucky, though, was tired. He’d been on a mission for the last two weeks in Latvia where most of his work had been intelligence gathering and sitting on various rooftops for hours to look through a set of binoculars.

The moment Bucky was within an arms’ reach of Tony the man deflated. He looked up into Bucky’s eyes, searching, and quirked his mouth to the side and looked down. Bucky watched as he fiddled with some sort of tool he had in hand.

“We can do it later. You’re tired.”

Dejected Tony was not the Tony Bucky wanted. He liked bright and excited Tony so much better. So he covered Tony’s hands with one of his own and waited until he caught his eyes before smiling.

“I can make the time. Anything to avoid a debrief.”

Tony just beamed.

So they went down to the workshop where Bucky immediately dropped all of his gear off into a corner and dressed down to his undershirt and pants. He didn’t dare take off his boots, lord knows how awful it would smell. He could run anyone off with that smell.

He approached the table and saw, held up on supports, a massive and matte black snipers rifle. It looked a lot like his own but had a bit of Tony’s flare.

“The scope is ten times better than the highest setting on the one you have. The grip is specifically engineered to be adjustable between you right and your left hand. And,” he emphasizes, “I’ve made you special armor piercing bullets that shatter upon impact making reconstruction of them difficult. Not to mention since they’re specially made they’re close to untraceable.”

Bucky is taken aback. This is one of the best things someone has ever made for him. Tony gestures and Bucky picks up the gun, marveling in how much lighter it is than the SHIELD issued one he has, and checks the scope before setting the gun back down and pulling Tony in for a hug.

“Thanks so much, Tony, this is one of the best things someone has done for me.” He pulls away and smiles, sheepish, “I’m sorry, I must smell like shit. Haven’t had time to hit the showers.”

Tony looks flustered and mumbles out, “I, uh, no. You’re fine. It’s no big deal.”

“It’s amazing, Tony.” Bucky beams at him, “You’re amazing.”

-

It wasn’t only his own tech that Bucky gave praise on. Whenever anyone on the team got new tech Bucky made sure to let Tony know how amazing it was and that he was awesome for putting in the time.

Each time Bucky did this Tony looked increasingly more ruffled. It got to the point where Tony seemed to almost avoid him. Bucky wasn’t sure what he was doing wrong but didn’t know how to fix it. Until one day when Natasha sat him down, face stony and serious, and assessed him.

“What are you doing with Tony?”

Bucky looks at her, confused, “I was just trying to tell him how great he is. No one else seems to bother thanking him for the stuff he builds.”

Natasha looks relieved but exasperated at the same time, “That’s because it makes him uncomfortable. Tony doesn’t do well with stuff like that. He’s really sensitive and it overwhelms him.”

“I thought…god, I’m stupid.”

“No, you just weren’t informed like you should have been.” Natasha says, more to the ceiling than to Bucky.

Bucky chewed his lip, “How do I apologize? How do I make it better?”

“Don’t bring it up. It makes it worse.” Natasha sighs, “Just do what we do and offer up a single ‘thanks’ and then leave it alone. To Tony, when someone goes overboard with their praise he thinks they want something from him and it makes him feel pressured and nervous.”

“So I just leave him alone?”

Natasha smiles, “Yeah. He’ll come to you when he’s ready.”

-

It was a few weeks before Tony talked to him again and Bucky hadn’t felt this relieved in a while. He’d done his best to give Tony space and room to breathe. He understood, in a way, what that was like for Tony. Bucky’s behavior had felt cloying to Tony. Behavior, no matter how positive it seems, isn’t always what is best for certain people.

“Clint told me about everything.” Tony says, leaning against the counter across from Bucky, watching him make breakfast. “He took full responsibility for it.”

“I’m still sorry.” Bucky offers.

Tony shrugs, “No problem. I was thinking, though, about maybe doing dinner? There’s a great Italian place I know. It’s small and quiet.”

Bucky smiles and flips an egg, “Sounds great.”


End file.
